The Hip Hop Community

Just recently the online community of rap artists lost a few of great contributors like XXXTentacion and Mac Miller. In recent years XXXTentacion, who’s real name is Jaseh, spoke up about anxiety depression and suicide telling all how he felt in “17” released August 25th 2017. He didn’t rap about the typical topics like Money and materialistic items. Mac Miller was one to rap about partying in his early years of raping but later in his career he brought up “self care” and acknowledging his mistakes. They both stopped rapping about money and brought up mental health, which was almost unseen in the rap community. Ultimately, they both passed away in two opposite ways, but they are alike in which their mental illnesses caused hardships in their lives. The younger demographic of people in the online rap community has embraced artists like XXX and Mac Miller, raising awareness of how anxiety, depression, and suicide is a subject that should be talked about more; instead, of pushed to the side.

The continuous growth of the internet and online communities make it easier for artists to be heard by a mass audience. With platforms like SoundCloud, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter it makes it easy to upload and share music at a fast pace. Making it convenient for the producers and listeners; who might not be in the same physical community but come together through an online community. These platforms have been around for a while but have never been viewed as a job until recently. It’s another way to communicate and to meet others with common interests.

XXX was 20 when he passed June 18, 2018. The cause of death was murder and it definitely wasn’t expected by anyone who supported him. The beginning of his life was not typical. He lived with his mother but later got kicked out in his early teen years for delinquent behavior. Getting expelled from school for punching a kid who was making fun of his mother. Sticking up for his mother definitely bit him in the butt. This all lead him to living in correctional housing, grandma's house etc. He started to develop problems like shoplifting, armed burglary and robbery, resisting arrest, possession of drugs. “According to his own description, X was living the life of a ‘young savage’.” After that bustle of activities that definitely led him the wrong way he ended up in jail. There, he met some talented rap artist, and they formed a rap crew known as Members only. XXX was always interesting if music, in an interview he had with No Jumper (A podcast hosted by Adam 22) saying that his mom signed him up for choirs because of his interest in music but got kicked out for punching a kid during a performance. XXX with his crazy past it made him know. Getting recondition from big time artists like Ugly God, A$AP Rocky and DJ Carnage is what seemed to make him more known than before. When he reached a larger audience he then talked about his problems and everything he has done and been through acknowledging that he has does a tone of crazy things and has learned from him mistakes.

Learning from the past is something everyone has a chance to do. Mac Miller had bad moments too but not as extreme. Getting arrested at parties and hopping the border to Canada was what he was doing but once he got introduced into the Rap/Hip Hop world it was all he could think about. Mac Miller created a duo group with Beedie named “The Ill Spoken.” Which led them to opening a show for Soulja boy, after their song “How High” got them popularity. In the song they just rapped about how high they were, “been hot so long it feel like I gotta lifetime fever (how high baby).” In 2010 Mac Miller went solo and released an album called “But My Mackin Ain’t Easy”.

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